Students showcase business skills at Urban Business Festival

Last Thursday, UW students, local artists and break-dancers celebrated at the annual UW Urban Business Festival with Seattle-based Wired energy drinks and Ezell’s chicken.

Amanda Casey, a senior business administration major and the head organizer for the event, hoped the festival would help students recognize the positive effects that locally-owned businesses have had, and will continue to have, on the community.

Inigo Esteban, Casey’s co-coordinator of the festival, agreed. Esteban helped with logistical support by calling businesses and inviting them to participate and reach out at the UW.

“These businesses are participating by giving back through volunteering,” Esteban said.

Esteban teamed up with Casey and Allicia Davis, a business administration and accounting major, to bring rapper Grieves, the Flying Sneakers dance crew and DJ Pryme to perform at this year’s festival.

“The student turnout was higher, and I think both the vendors and the students got more from the event,” Casey said. “All of the entertainers had fun and were great to watch. The break-dancers were amazing, and Ezell’s and Wired were definitely a big hit.”

Some student-owned businesses made their debut by showcasing their wares.

RUPH, a student business created by Jordan Reynolds, Amber Uttecht, Skye Potter and Erik Holsather, was formed out of concern about rising violence and crime in the U-District.

RUPH’s product, a box set that includes a can of pepper spray and an alarm whistle, is purchasable for $21.95 per package. The package started selling last Monday and will soon be available at all UW bookstores locations.

“Urban Business [Festival] means community commitment and innovative sales to the younger city-dwelling population,” said Amber Uttecht, chief marketing officer for RUPH.

“As UW students living in Seattle we have found a need for defense products. No other company markets their product to our generation or to UW students specifically.”

“Our ultimate goal is to get funding and expand operations to colleges and universities around the U.S.,” Uttecht said. “Studies have already shown that pepper spray does decrease crime, and whistles are known to be the most effective self-defense item. We will certainly be paying attention to crime rates to see if our product has any effect.”

A sense of social responsibility and ethics also seemed to be a theme at this year’s festival. People’s Republic of Clothing (PRC) promised to give a portion of its proceeds to aid victims suffering from the fallout of a major earthquake in China.

“The festival is an underground, down-scale version of the corporate world,” said Verdale Hilliard, a local graffiti artist and small business owner.